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A Nominee With Vigor Gives Michigan Democrats Hope

At the morning-after unity breakfast, the giants of the Michigan Democratic Party were quiet -- or absent. James J. Blanchard, the only Democratic governor in 40 years, hugged the winner and slipped away. Representative David E. Bonior, who has spent much of his 26 years in Congress in the House leadership, clasped a coffee mug off to the side, clapping politely.

Glowing at the center table was Jenni the giant-slayer, a former beauty queen turned Phi Beta Kappa lawyer who ran for office the first time only four years ago. On Tuesday, Jennifer N. Granholm, the state attorney general, won a bitter three-way primary with 48 percent of the vote, beating Mr. Blanchard and Mr. Bonior by 20 points.

She becomes the first woman to be nominated for governor in Michigan and will face the Republican candidate, Lt. Gov. Dick Posthumus. A recent survey showed Ms. Granholm outpolling Mr. Posthumus 52 percent to 38 percent in such a matchup, but he easily won his primary over State Senator John Schwarz and as a result has not begun to blitz the state.

''We're going to take back this state,'' Ms. Granholm, 43, vowed when she took the lectern after many ovations. ''We're going to do it for our parents, we're going to do it for our children, we're going to do it for everyone who has been excluded.''

The decisive victory was notable because Ms. Granholm, who raised a record $5.7 million, could become the first woman to be the state's governor and because she captured the nomination by focusing heavily on Western Michigan, traditionally Republican territory. She won all but two of the state's 83 counties -- the two that make up Mr. Bonior's district -- and, surveys of voters leaving the polls indicated, had particularly strong support among women, voters younger than 30 and baby boomers, whites, spouses of union members, residents of Western Michigan and college graduates.

Gov. John Engler, a tough conservative whose act-first, ask-later approach has sent his job-approval ratings to about 45 percent from near 70 percent over the last two years, is barred by law from seeking a fourth term.

Analysts attributed Ms. Granholm's victory to made-for-television looks and on-the-stump charisma. They also said she ran a smart campaign, guided by Clinton-Gore strategists, in which she avoided strong positions on hot-button issues.

She fended off attacks about inexperience and ethical lapses, and used her short public résumé as an asset in a state struggling economically and suffering from so-called Engler fatigue.

''She didn't win because she was a woman but because of what she represents as a woman -- the new vision, the new direction,'' said Ed Sarpolus, a prominent pollster in Michigan. ''If you talk to people on the street, it's, 'We tried Blanchard and he lost.' You talk to focus groups -- Bonior represents the old politics, the old ways, the old school. There's such a pent-up demand to want to win that they were looking for something new.''

Ms. Granholm is one of about a dozen women with strong chances in the nation's 36 governor's contests this fall, 20 of which involve open seats. Five women are now governors.

Some see the emergence of women as executive leaders as a counterpoint to the male-dominated scandals in corporate America and the Catholic Church, or as a natural step a decade after a number of women swept into Congress in 1992.

Karen O'Connor, director of the Women and Politics Institute at American University, said that the focus on statewide offices was inevitable after redistricting left few vulnerable Congressional seats. Ms. O'Connor added that governorships allowed women to avoid ''the language of war'' and concentrate on domestic issues, where they were seen as most credible.

Ms. Granholm's victory is likely to mean political retirement for Mr. Bonior, a fixture on the left wing of the Beltway who has been among labor's staunchest supporters and a dogged fighter for liberal causes. This morning, he endorsed the Democratic ticket, followed by a ritual embrace of Ms. Granholm, but said he had no interest in being Ms. Granholm's lieutenant governor. He said he was interested in serving in some capacity but was more likely to teach than to return to the campaign trail.

''I want to serve in some capacity,'' he said, ''but there are other ways to serve the community.''

Though Mr. Bonior will be leaving Washington, John D. Dingell, the nation's longest-serving congressman, will head back for a 24th term in the House, having staved off a serious challenge from Lynn Rivers, another incumbent, in a new district drawn by Republicans.

Despite Ms. Rivers's recent gains in polls and support from national gun-control and women's groups, Mr. Dingell ended up with 59 percent of the vote to Ms. Rivers's 41 percent.

''He has one of the last of the political machines in the world,'' said Mr. Sarpolus, the pollster. ''When they got scared two weeks ago everything came out of the woodwork -- the block clubs, the social clubs, the phone banks, everything.''

While Mr. Posthumus, who coasted past Mr. Schwarz, a moderate, by more than 4 to 1, spent the day greeting workers at an auto plant and at a county fair, Ms. Granholm made thank-you calls from her headquarters in a shopping mall among interviews with the national news media. She said the fall campaign would be easier because it presented a stark choice, rather than a nasty battle among friends.

She long ago abandoned the nickname Jenni, which she used when she was an aspiring actress, became Miss San Carlos, Calif., and appeared on ''The Dating Game'' (she picked a bachelor but did not go out with him because he had a girlfriend). Now, Ms. Granholm's focus is on politics, where she alternates between sincere whispers and dynamic declarations. A mother of three, she offers a fierce handshake followed by a soft shoulder touch, and appeals to voters by looking directly into their eyes with her clear blue ones.

''I'm about as real as you can get,'' she said. Her sales pitch is a ''combination of being a new face and I'm just a mother with kids, I want to get stuff done,'' she said.

As attorney general, she has scored points as a consumer advocate attacking Internet pornography and gouging by gasoline stations. Though her Democratic opponents criticized her for not fighting hard enough against the Engler administration, her focus now will be to attack Mr. Posthumus as the governor's right hand.

''It's her race to lose,'' said Bill Ballenger, editor of the newsletter Inside Michigan Politics. ''There is almost a sense of exhaustion in the state now: after 12 years of John Engler, give us something new and fresh and likable and not as conservative and not as tough and not as mean. She is the perfect un-Engler. Blond, trim, articulate, intelligent. Who could ask for more?''